Marking 12 Years of Make in India, Gov't Targets the Brains Inside Our Smartphones

The Make in India initiative was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 to boost domestic manufacturing capacity, and in recent years many global technology players have either started their own units in the country or formed joint ventures with Indian firms. As the country marks 12 years of the Make in India initiative, Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has outlined the next phase of the mobile phone manufacturing push. The announcement highlights improvements in domestic production of smartphone components, battery cells, and battery materials.

India Goes Beyond Smartphone Assembly: Ashwini Vaishnaw

In a series of posts on X on Friday, Ashwini Vaishnaw announced how the manufacturing ecosystem is moving further up the supply chain. Here is what he highlighted:

• India now manufactures smartphone components and materials. The minister says a smartphone contains hundreds of components, and India is now manufacturing more of the components, sub-components and materials that go into these devices. This indicates a shift from primarily assembling smartphones to building a domestic component ecosystem. Earlier, government data show that Mobile phone production in India increased 28-fold, increasing from Rs. 18,000 crore in 2014–15 to Rs. 5.45 lakh crore in 2024–25 under the government's Make in India vision and Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme. The country is now set to manufacture over 330 million mobile phones annually.

• Battery manufacturing is expanding: The minister pointed out that India is now manufacturing battery cells for handsets. He indicated the next level of the battery supply chain, where domestic manufacturers are producing the materials that make up the cells themselves. This would add another layer to India's electronics manufacturing ecosystem.

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• Battery layer materials production: Vaishnaw focuses on the multiple materials and layers required to manufacture a lithium-ion battery cell. The minister claims that each layer and each material is being made in India, indicating supply-chain development.

• Local production of synthetic graphite and battery electrolyte additives: Synthetic graphite is another material used in the anode of lithium-ion batteries. The minister claims that the synthetic graphite will be domestically manufactured. He also said the liquid electrolyte used in lithium-ion batteries is part of India's manufacturing ecosystem. He highlighted that acetylene black, a conductive material used in batteries, will also be manufactured in India.

Further, the minister said that the push for local production is not limited to smartphones and components. He said cameras, camera modules, displays, speakers, coils, PCBs, and connectors are also being manufactured domestically.

The latest announcement by the union minister came two months after the Union Cabinet approved the Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS) with a budget of Rs. 62,500 crore. The programme has a five-year tenure, ending in the financial year 2030-31, and it will provide incentives to phone manufacturers based on eligible sales in the country at different rates ranging from 2.25 percent to 5 percent.